AKAI Z4 / Z8 & MPC4000 MNX2010 SITE

--- Last Update 19 November 2025 - Since the year 2013 !!! So now 12 Years ! ---

Akai Z8 Specifications: Synthesizer Section Maximum Polyphony : 64-Voices (32-Voices: 96kHz) Memory Capacity : 16MB, expandable to 512MB using 168-pin SDRAM DIMMs (PC133/PC100, CL2, ECC/Non, 256MB max.) 2 slots Sampling Frequency : 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 96 kHz Total Sampling Time : 180/120 (16/24bit) seconds mono 44.1kHz 166/110 (16/24bit) seconds mono 48kHz 83/55 (16/24bit) second mono 96kHz 90/60 (16/24bit) seconds stereo 44.1kHz 83/55 (16/24bit) seconds stereo 48kHz 41/27 (16/24bit) seconds stereo 96kHz Filter : Digital dynamic multi-mode filter (2-pole x 3 with resonance) per voice Envelope Generators : 3 x Digital Envelope generators (2 multi-stage) per voice LFOs : 2 x Multi-Wave Low Frequency Oscillators per voice Others Display : Backlight 248 x 60 dot graphic LCD Drivebay : 3.5 inch x 1 (ATA) Connectors : Inputs x 2, Outputs x 2, Phones, MIDI IN x2, MIDI OUT/THRU x2, SCSI interface. Outputs x 8, S/P-DIF digital I/O 2 x RCA input/output. Accessories : AC power cable, operators manual, Sound Library Disc, Cable set for IDE drive. Dimensions : 483(W) x 415(D) x 91(H) mm Weight : 6.4 kg

The 3 options to replace your old hard drive

FAST ! - ZuluSCSI Blaster (RP2350B) (around 100 euros) The ZuluSCSI Blaster (SCSI2SD) was released in April 2025. It can read up to 18 MB/s and write up to 11 MB/s and supports Ultra SCSI (20 MB/s). (ZuluSCSI RP2040 : Maximum read speed 4 MB/sec.) It's definitely moving in the right direction. The question is whether this high speed is in the sampler. The sampler must be SCSI-2 standard to achieve these high speeds. That's certainly the case with the Z-Series. The SCSI-2 standard enabled faster operation (10 MHz) and wider buses (16-bit or 32-bit). At 10 MHz with a bus width of 16 bits, a data rate of 20 MB/s is possible. The question is what speed will ultimately be achieved. Perhaps the bottleneck is the sampler itself, which is causing the speed to be a bit disappointing, but for the Z-Series things look rosy. 2025f is the same as RP2350B. Buy Zuluscsi Kit > Samplerzone.com        More Info and Buy > Zuluscsi.com Amigastore.com > Bay Bracket 3.5" SCSI2SD ZuluSCSI      ZuluSCSI Blaster RP2350B

MID ! - IDE2SD or IDE2CF or both? (around 30 euros) For SD & CF converting use IDE adapters for the Z4/Z8 & MPC4000, simpler and more cheaper than SCSI adapters and so easy to install, only format in FAT32. For SD & CF larger than 512MB, use a computer to format. Addonics.com >>> IDE - CF Adapter (Supported memory list and info) The answer to the question of which is best: the IDE2SD! SD is still preferable to CF. I had an incident with a card reader that destroyed a CF. One of the legs was bent and destroyed the CF card, luckily I had a backup! You won't experience that with an SD card, which is much more robust. It's not for nothing that almost everything is SD these days. You can purchase a kit or the IDE2SD board and the 3.5-inch bay separately. Or, you can 3D print the 3.5-inch bay. Also take a look at the HD Replace Workshop. IDE2SD Card 40Pin Male IDE HD converter > Ebay        Floppy drive Bay SD to IDE (printed out) > Ebay IDE2SD Floppy drive bay (3D print file) > Thingiverse        IDE2SD Floppy drive bay (3D print file) > Printables KIT : floppy drive bay (printed out) & SD to IDE hard drive adapter (40 pin) > Zzxio

SLOW ! - USB-Stick startup disk (around 10 euros) To use the USB-Stick as startup disk on the Z4/Z8, you need to disconnect the harddisk-connectors. Better even remove the harddisk, because it’s noisy, slow, old & unreliable. Format your stick as FAT32. The stick/partition should not be larger than 32GB. Copy programs and samples in an autoload folder. That’s it, the power on and it will load automatically, a lot slower as CF & SD, but very cheap solution. I use the synthy banks 1 & 2 in total 66MB. The outcome of the test : SD & CF >>> Start Load - 13 sec >>> End Time - 1:22 sec USB >>> Start Load - 54 sec >>> End Time - 2:47 sec Conclusion : USB is much slower than SD & CF and it will take some time to find the USB-Stick. In fact 41 sec more than SD & CF and the loading time is round a minute (for a 66MB) slower. As predictable, the fast data converters are expensive and the slow are cheap ... MNX2010 Nov'25

Q-Link: Q-Link has only 8 channels real-time controller. So before you assign the parameter data, try out (front panel Q-Link controls), witch one of the controller data is effective. The one I like the most is the Cut-off & Resonance, especially with synthesiser and effects sounds. For drums I like more Reverb & Flanger. The Q-Link controls are recordable and transmit and receive real-time controller data. To optimize the controller data. Use the separate tracks for every controller number-parameter. Go to the list editor in Cubase or any other DAW, delete all other data controllers for volume and program change, if you don’t use it, delete it ! Now select the all controller data and go to Quantize and delete doubles. Remember MIDI is still slow ! ..... MNX2010 March'18.

AKAI Z4 / Z8 & MPC4000 YouTube Playlist

AKAI Z8 infoz8.pdf >>> (0.2Mb)(eng) * Mediafire Download * * Google Drive Download * AKAI Z8 myakaiz8.pdf >>> (0.04Mb)(eng) * Mediafire Download * * Google Drive Download *

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